Every Job Position Luke Alvez Landed In Criminal Minds

While the departure of lead cast members from "Criminal Minds" was rare, changes still occurred. When Mandy Patinkin left the series in the Season 3 premiere, Joe Mantegna joined the show as David Rossi, the new Senior Supervisory Special Agent of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. At the start of Season 12, Thomas Gibson made headlines with his departure from the show. Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) was promoted to replace Gibson's Hotchner as Unit Chief. Another big shakeup occurred in Season 11, when Shemar Moore left the show, taking Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Derek Morgan with him.

To fill the void, and the vacant seat at the BAU's table, the series introduced Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez). Alvez brought a set of impressive credentials to the team, having served in the U.S. Army as a member of the 75th Rangers Regiment, commonly known as the Army Rangers, an elite special forces unit within the military branch. When his time in uniform ended, Alvez joined the FBI's Fugitive Task Force. It was through that position that he caught the attention of the BAU, though his position on the team fluctuated over the course of four seasons.

In the explosive Season 11 finale, a domestic terror group attacked a prison, releasing 13 serial killers in the process. Season 12 starts with the BAU still working on recapturing the escapees. As one might suspect, the BAU worked closely with the Fugitive Task Force, which is how Luke Alvez first meets the BAU. By the end of the episode, Hotch offers Alvez a spot on the team, which he readily accepts. Upon joining the team, Alvez is given the title Supervisory Special Agent, which he would hold until Season 14.

That season, in the episode aptly named "Luke," Alvez goes rogue in the hunt for Jeremy Grant (Johnny Messner), a copycat killer who tortures his victims with the forced ingestion of bleach before shooting and killing them. Grant, a former colleague of Alvez's, is seeking revenge for the deaths of his wife and children at the hands of Mexican druglord Eduadro Ramos (Chad Guerrero), whom Grant could have killed years before, but was stopped by Alvez. As part of his revenge scheme, Grant wants Alvez to feel the pain of loss, and subsequently kills Alvez's best friend, Phil Brooks (Corey Reynolds). Following protocol, Unit Chief Prentiss removes Alvez from the case, telling him that he can't work it while being a target.

Now wanting revenge of his own and ignoring Prentiss' order, Alvez continues to pursue Grant, whom he eventually captures at an airport. Despite a successful end to the case, Prentiss punishes Alvez's lone-wolf actions and demotes him to Special Agent. The demotion, however, was temporary. In the next episode, "Twenty Seven," Alvez successfully captures one of two brothers who are terrorizing Washington, D.C., with machete attacks. Due to his impressive valor, Prentiss informs Alvez that she will begin the process of having his Supervisory status restored. Two episodes later, Alvez is once again a Supervisory Special Agent, a title he would hold through the remainder of the series.

Though he had a somewhat turbulent arc in Season 14, Alvez proved himself a capable replacement for Derek Morgan. Unfortunately, his reckless decision in the Jeremy Grant case makes him the only member of the BAU to be demoted.